Bob McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wouldn't go so far as to characterize it as serious breaches. I would just talk about the four instances that the Member raised on the Robertson Headframe with Newmont. The proponent wrote to all the Yellowknife MLAs indicating that he had talked to our government. I do have e-mails from the four Yellowknife MLAs outlining their positions with regards to the Robertson Headframe. So for him to say that it's a complete surprise that we were talking about the Robertson Headframe, I guess he considers that as very serious. Perhaps we should have communicated directly with...

Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Alfred Moses will be absent from the House today and tomorrow to attend the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Ministers of Immigration meeting in Quebec. Also, Mr. Speaker, I wish to advise Members that the Honourable Louis Sebert will be absent from the House today and tomorrow to attend the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Ministers of Justice and Public Safety meeting in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I don't see it happening again and again, but it's something, as I say, it's a constant process, we discuss it all the time. Every issue, every decision paper, every information item dealing, responding to the media, we endeavour to make sure that committees, especially the chairs of the appropriate committee and the MLAs are made aware of it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

That protocol is in the process of being renegotiated. It'll be rolled out very shortly, and we stand by it. Communications is a standing item of all of our Cabinet meetings of every decision paper and we will continue to endeavour to fulfill those commitments that we've committed.

I am pleased to recognize a constituent from Yellowknife South, Mr. Lona Hegeman, who is accompanied by Mr. Amir Kassab. Mr. Kassab is originally from Paris, France, and is in the Northwest Territories on a two-year work visa. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and welcome.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to welcome all Members back to the second session of the 18th Legislative Assembly. During this session we will continue our work together to advance the priorities of the Assembly and the mandate commitments of the Government of the Northwest Territories. One of the priorities of the Assembly is to improve accountability, transparency, and collaboration. The Government of the Northwest Territories made several commitments in its mandate in relation to this priority, including a commitment to improve public visibility and accessibility of Cabinet by organizing Cabinet...

We have received no indication that they will be repealing any legislation. We have no timelines. The last meeting I had was with the federal Fisheries Minister where there is an indication that the review of the Fisheries Act will also look at the Navigable Waters Act, will also look at environmental assessment. We indicated to him that we were ready, willing, and available to participate. He was very excited about that, and he was looking forward to us participating and working with him on it.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can shed a lot of light on that matter. During the federal election, in response to a question that was posed by ourselves to all of the leaders of the federal parties, I posed a question about the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act, or the Northern Regulatory Improvement Initiative that was called at the time, that the leader of the Liberal Party, and now the Prime Minister, in his response, wrote back and said that their government would be doing a review of the whole environmental assessment process and they would set it right. In my first meeting with the...

It’s a requirement of our government to post the results of our Negotiated Contracts Policy on an annual basis, and, as such, the Negotiated Contracts Policy is reviewed on an annual basis. It was last reviewed in the fall of 2015.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The factors that are considered when authorizing contract negotiations are set out in the publicly posted Negotiated Contracts Policy and they include costs, the benefits that might be achieved for Northwest Territories residents, support from local leaders, the contractor’s ability and history with the Government of the Northwest Territories, and the possibility that other qualified Northwest Territories businesses might be interested in competing on the contract. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.